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The White Sox faced off against the Orioles within the beautiful Camden Yards ballpark for the first of a three-game series. Despite the game taking place in Baltimore, you would never know from the loud chants from the South Siders in town for the final series before the All Star break. Oh, and the Sheets family was there to get loud and cheer Gavin Sheets on.
The Starters
Dallas Keuchel was on the bump tonight. While he started a little shaky, Keuchel was able to eat innings and still have a very productive start, only allowing one run. It helped to have great defense and incredible run support on behalf of a pitcher that was having a less than stellar appearance on the mound.
Keuchel’s 96-pitch outing looked like this:
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Baltimore starter Jorge Lopez’s 87-pitch outing looked like this:
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Pressure Play
With two Orioles on base, Austin Hays grounded into a double play to shortstop in the fifth inning. Kelvin Gutierrez was able to advance to third, but with the double play from Hays and Trey Mancini with the third out, the Orioles saw the game slipping away. The Hays double play had an LI of 2.73.
Pressure Cooker
Cole Sulser was not having a good night on the mound. Replacing a struggling Lopez, and then needing to be replaced himself after only 19 pitches, had Sulser in the pressure cooker tonight. Sulser’s pLI for his brief outing was 1.63.
Top Play
The Sox took the game early on, securing it by the third inning. The top play went to Brian Goodwin when he doubled, allowing Tim Anderson to score and Jose Abreu to advance. Goodwin’s double gave the Sox a .128 WPA.
Top Performer
Dallas Keuchel was the top performer of the night holding down a WPA of .21. He allowed one run for the Orioles as a little treat through seven innings.
Smackdown
Hardest hit: Kelvin Gutierrez’s ground out in the seventh inning was the hardest hit, clocking in at 109.4 mph.
Weakest contact: In a game of mostly hard-hit balls, Seby Zavala’s sacrifice bunt in the seventh inning came off the bat at a low 46.7 mph.
Luckiest hit: Jake Burger reached first on error by Kelvin Gutierrez in the ninth inning. Burger’s xBA was only .100.
Toughest out: Brian Goodwin and José Abreu tied for toughest out. Abreu’s came in first inning in the form of a line out. Goodwin’s would be his ground out in the seventh inning. Both had an xBA of .670.
Longest hit: Anthony Santander’s fourth inning double traveled 397 feet. For a second, it appeared to be a home run, but replay would determine it was in fact only a double.
Magic Number: 100.3
In his 15 pitches, Micheal Kopech was as fast as 100.3 mph. His slowest fastball clocked in at 99.6. Kopech was untouchable on the mound tonight.
Michael Kopech, K'ing the Side with Complete Filth. pic.twitter.com/WVSWwTdrLc
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 10, 2021
Glossary
Hard-hit is any ball off the bat at 95 mph or more
LI measures pressure per play
pLI measures total pressure faced in game
Whiff a swing-and-miss
WPA win probability added measures contributions to the win
xBA expected batting average
Poll
Who was the MVP for the July 9 game?
This poll is closed
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43%
Dallas Keuchel: 7 IP, 3 Ks, .21 WPA
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51%
Tim Anderson: 3 H, 3 R, 2 RBIs, .17 WPA
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2%
Adam Engel: 1 HR, 4 RBIs
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2%
Brian Goodwin: 2 RBIs, .09 WPA
Poll
Who was the Cold Cat for the July 9 game? Did you even have one?
This poll is closed
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1%
Leury García: 2 for 6, 1 K, -.07 WPA
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32%
Seby Zavala: 1 for 5, 3 Ks
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4%
Danny Mendick: 0 for 1, 1 K
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61%
Chrystal O’Keefe: For assuming anyone was truly a Cold Cat tonight
South Side Sox Roll Call
In a 305-comment gamethread, Trooper Galactus just crushed it.
# | Commenter | # Comments |
---|---|---|
1 | Trooper Galactus | 63 |
2 | steely3000 | 39 |
3 | Schoolly_D | 34 |
4 | AnoHito | 31 |
5 | baines03 | 27 |
6 | Pointerbabe | 22 |
7 | WIN05 | 14 |
8 | horror1967 | 14 |
9 | obnoxious american | 11 |
10 | GrinnellSteve | 11 |
11 | Lurker Laura | 10 |
12 | katiesphil | 10 |
13 | wissoxfan83 | 9 |
14 | DuhSox | 4 |
15 | ruffster | 3 |
16 | Uribe Down | 2 |
17 | Gutteridge70 | 1 |
Surprisingly, not a ton of green given all the comments, so Pointerbabe and obnoxious american tie for honors.
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